Metallic shoe-shank



(No Model.)

J. ATHERTON.

METALLIC SHOE SHANK. No. 346,572. Patented Aug. 3, 1886.

I Fig. 5- F15. Q. I WITNEE E5- INVENTEI UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JESSE ATHERTON, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

' METALLIC SHOE-SHANK.

Patent No. 346,572, dated August 3, 1886.

Serial No. 202,266. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Jnssn ATIIERTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brockton, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Metallic Shoe-Shanks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the form of metallic shoe-shanks, and enables me to make the metallic shank of thenccessary stiffness and elasticity with a smaller amount of stock than is now required, and to avoid the disfigurement of the shank of the finished shoe or boot produced in the burnishing-down process. In light shoes containing the metallic shankin forms now in use, the heavy pressure of the tool in theburnishing-dowu process upon the shank produces on the outside surface of the shank of the finished shoe two ridges or lines by the indentation of the edges of the metallic shank. 13y making the form of the metallic shank correspond more nearly to the natural shape of the shank, I am enabled to avoid this disfigurement.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents my improved mctallie shank convex on the under side in the direction of its length, and correspondingly concave 011 the upper side, as it is placed in the shoe,besides having the ordinary curve of a metallic shank. Fig. 2 represents the right-hand portion of the shank from the line 00 0;. Fig. 8 represents the right-hand portion from the line 3 y, showing that thei concavity is greater at the middle than toward the ends. Fig. 4 represents a longitudinal section showing the gradual curvature in the sides from the center toward the ends. Fig. 5 represents a cross-section through the shank on the line .2 z, and Fig. 6 a cross-section on the line 1; o.

The object of a metallic shoe-shank is to hold up to the foot the portion of the boot to which it isapplied, and in wearing the shoe the tendency is to bend the shank by pressure on the middle, the ends being supported. In order to resist this pressure, I make use of the fact that the cylindrical form has far greater powerof resisting such apressure than a plane surface has.

My improvement consists in curving the side surfaces of the shank-that is, the top and bottom as it is in the shoeby bending or hollowing it with the concave side upward throughout the Whole or greater portion of its length by a gradually-increasing curve from near the ends to the center.

\Vhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A metallic shoe-shank curved both longitudinally and transversely, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

JESSE ATI-IERTON.

'Witnesses:

WILLIAM S. GREEN LENA T. SOULE. 

